This course introduces students to the Asia-Pacific security environment and to some of the main ideas and approaches through which security in Asia can be understood. It deals with security in the broad, from traditional understandings of security as the absence of interstate military threats to the domestic and transnational security challenges which confront a number of Asia-Pacific countries. Students will gain an understanding of the diversity of the experiences of security within Asia and be encouraged to link this understanding to an awareness of the cultural, historical, and political factors which account for these different experiences in the region. The course will end with a brief consideration of the implications of these security issues and understandings in the region for Australia, offering a connection to Asia2030.

Enhance knowledge of the Asia-Pacific security environment. Develop analytical frameworks for explaining and understanding key developments in that security environment. Promote general research and writing skills through a varied range of written course assessments.

Tutorial attendance and participation (10 per cent); Short assignment (700 words) (20 per cent); Essay plan (500 words) (10 per cent); Research essay (2,500 words) (30 per cent); Take home exam (1,500 words) (30 per cent).

34 contact hours per semester.

A 2-hour lecture session per week for twelve weeks and a 1-hour tutorial per week for ten weeks of the semester.

ASHI1001, or ASHI1002 and ASHI1003, or ASIA1025 and ASIA1030 or permission of coordinator.

Robert Ayson and Desmond Ball (eds), Strategy and Security in the Asia-Pacific, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2006.

William T. Tow (ed), Security Politics in the Asia-Pacific: A Regional-Global Nexus?, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.